Jan Kraus

Old Cans (2025)

Friends Petr and Michal, who have known each other since high school, live completely different lives: one has already settled down, has a well-paid job and a family, the other is a loner with unfulfilled artistic ambitions. But they are still united by th ...

Věra Plívová-Šimková (2023)

Wilson City (2015)

Comedy inspired by paperback crime novels tells the story of an adventurous search for a mysterious murderer who just after the end of the First World War has begun a rampage in Wilson City, a jerkwater town somewhere in Eastern Europe. The investigation i ...

Prague Cans (2014)

The protagonists are the same, only five years older: Kocourek Kolman, mother Kocourková, mother Kolmanová and father Kolman. Kocourek applies to study graphic design at the UMPRUM. He has not been accepted twice because there is a great interest in stud ...

3 Seasons in Hell (2009)

A 19 year old nonconformist poet living in 1947 Czechoslovakia is blind to the Communist behemoth looking over him, and instead lives a bohemian life with sexually liberated girls. ...

Láska In Memoriam (2008)

Sixteen-year-old apprentice Zuzka commutes to Prague, where she is studying to become a "mechanic and agricultural machinery adjuster." She lives alternately at a boarding school and at her parents' farm. At home, endless work awaits her, and at school, sh ...

The Can (2007)

This movie is about strange relationships in one "noname" gymnasium in Czech republic. ...

The Gnome (2005)

A tragicomedy full of slapstick and vignettes, and even an unexpected shootout. A family of villagers moves up in the world - to the county seat. Dad works as a butcher at a meatpacking plant, mom is a checker at a supermarket. The daughter is at odds with ...

Dopisy v krajkách (2003)

Waterloo po česku (2002)

The short stories about marriage that Vít Olmer wrote for Playboy magazine when Arnošt Lustig was its editor-in-chief are witty, often with absurd punchlines, and clearly show that the author is a keen observer of life around us. He selected five of them ...

Seducer (2002)

A husband asks his best friend to seduce his wife in order to get divorce. ...

Královský slib (2001)

Our story begins years later. A grand engagement is being planned in the kingdom. The prince has come of age. The time has come for him to marry the daughter of a neighboring country. An ancient royal promise must be fulfilled! However, the prince has litt ...

Piece of land (2000)

Ten short unrelated stories that move chronologically through Slovakia's twentieth-century history as seen from the perspective of life in small towns and villages. ...

Hanele (1999)

Based on an autobiographical novella by Ivan Olbracht, the film tells the story of Hanele Safarová, who grows up just after the First World War in a little Ruthenian schtetl which, in true Hassidic fashion, awaits the arrival of the Messiah. But Hanele de ...

Prague Stories (1999)

A four-story omnibus depicting different Czech slices-of-life from the titular city. ...

Food (1996)

Examines the human relationship with food by showing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. ...

Faust (1994)

A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds hims ...

Ještě větší blbec, než jsme doufali (1994)

Vít Dolejší, popularly known as Vitoušek, monitors the groundwater in the underground of the National Theatre, and when he gets fired because the theatre will go to the nuns, he has no choice but to inherit the Richmond Hotel in Karlovy Vary from his A ...

Mistr Kampanus (1993)

A TV adaptation of the famous novel in which writer Zikmund Winter depicts the life story of Prague university professor and humanist poet Jan Campanus Vodňanský and his efforts to save the ancient university after the Battle of White Mountain. Campanus ...

Black Barons (1992)

Life of Czechoslovak soldiers in a military unit for the so called "politically unreliable" - the Technical auxiliary battalions, aka "the black barons". Although it might seem like a political satire and it's mostly funny, it shows the reality and the abs ...

The Cave of the Golden Rose (1991)

After a queen's tragic death, the king abandons his newborn daughter in a cave, but a witch saves her. Years later, the tomboy princess must confront and ultimately falls in love with the enemy king. ...

Eugene among Us (1990)

Young Eugene from the provinces travels to Prague in search of fame. Once there he gets an offer to write engagé lyrics for pop songs... ...

Chlapská čest (1990)

Two happily married couple, Michal and Blanka, experience a regrettable misunderstanding: the wife leaves home with their young son, but unfortunately her husband does not find the explanatory letter. Normally, he would wait for the matter to resolve itsel ...

Člověk proti zkáze (1990)

Biography of Karel Čapek. ...

Mark of Cain (1989)

In 1866, as Austria faces war with Prussia, 19-year-old Ludvík Machl joins a secret Czech resistance group. When he is caught with stolen funds and a weapon, the police commissioner spares him from prison on the condition that he work as an informant. Tra ...

Cesta na jihozápad (1989)

Based on a Jack London story, this is another attempt at a Western spectacle - after the short story triptych The Canyon of Gold - about a teenage boy who, after his father's death, lives in a gold-mining town. He even witnesses a cruel fight between two c ...

Tale '88 (1989)

The lead character is a young woman who becomes close with a colleague of her husband. She finds herself at an important crossroad in life and considers whether to take a decisive step. ...

Útěk ze seriálu (1989)

Pan Tau – der Film (1988)

Pan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and decides to shoot another Pan-Tau movie. But the old Pan-Tau actor Karasek is no longer young enough to walk the almost weightless walk of Pan Tau. Mr. Nova ...

Who's That Soldier? (1988)

In the Czech film comedy from 1988, you can see for yourself that the war was not easy, but otherwise it was great fun. Sergeant Kouba serving with the paratroopers has a soft spot for women. His superior does not like him. However, during a military exerc ...

Magician (1988)

A narration of episodes from the life of the famous Czech poet, Karel Hynek Mácha. Throughout the film, we witness a deep analysis of Mácha's complex character (his relation to another Czech writer of the time Josef Kajetán Tyl, his unbearable jealousy, ...

Cena medu (1987)

Little Péťa visits his grandfather in the Krkonoše Mountains, where a swarm of bees settles on a tree. When Péťa disturbs it, the entire swarm attacks him, leaving him in a deep coma. Ordinary treatments fail, so Dr. Vrba insists on a beekeeper's bloo ...

Why? (1987)

Why? (Czech: Proč?) is a 1987 Czechoslovak drama film directed by Karel Smyczek. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. The film deals with the hooliganism in Czechoslovakia, particularly with the fans of footba ...

Outsider (1987)

Elementary school student Jožka has a great love – horses. He is looking forward to turning this love into a profession. However, he is atoning for his father's criminal activities, he is not accepted into his dream school focused on horse breeding due ...

Smích se lepí na paty (1987)

Sixty-year-old Joska Platejz, a peculiar jack of all trades, lives in a cottage in the Giant Mountains. He cooks wonderfully for a group of woodcutters. He has brought a mountain stream to his cottage and set up a set of tanks (one of which he keeps trout ...

Antonyho šance (1986)

Antony is obsessed with the idea of a happy family life, but his young daughter has to be cared for by the parents of his wife, who died in a car accident. Unfortunately, Martha, whom Antony has somewhat recklessly married, has a fundamentally different vi ...

Young Wine (1986)

Third wine session, this time with a computer. The film was made in direct relation to the audience success of the previous two: "Stormy Wine" and "Ripe Wine". In the comedy-oriented story, the computer is an important actor, around which all the events ac ...

It's Not Me (1986)

The two heroes of the film's story - the decent but dry engineer Zárub and the marriage swindler Majer - are granted this wish by the mysterious forces of the moon. The two men change their appearance, which, however, contrasts sharply with their unchange ...

Eine zauberhafte Erbschaft (1986)

In 18th century Bohemia, the mercenary troops of a cruel duke roam the countryside. A cap maker who defends himself against injustice is thrown into prison. His ten-year-old son tries to free his father with the help of his friends of the same age and a ma ...

Všechno nebo nic (1985)

Approaches to important life values can vary: while the top athlete who has made it in cycling tries to monetise his talent, his brother cannot devote himself to his beloved sculpture because of his disabled arm and seeks alternative self-fulfilment. Moreo ...

Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch (1985)

When a young journalist dies in violent circumstances, her brother soon learns, by way of the mysterious Stefan Crosscoe, that his sister has succumbed to the werewolf curse. ...

Domek u lesa (1985)

Every one of us has certainly been in a situation for which he or she is not prepared and is not able to orient him or herself immediately and correctly. And the hero of our story also finds out in a rather unpleasant way that it leads to a number of misun ...

Rumburak (1984)

In this fairy-tale comedy, a clumsy second-rate wizard, Rumburak, gets stuck in the world of humans. He has forgotten the spell that allows him to return to his home fairyland. His only joy is watching the figure skater Helen, whom he would like to woo. Hi ...

Zaspala nevěsta (1984)

Únos Moravanky (1983)

The popular Moravanka brass band performs at the fair. Vasek Pivoňka, the bandleader of the local brass band Kulatěnky, which broke up, decides to put the band back together. The village musicians are sceptical at first, but later they start rehearsing w ...

Láska na druhý pohled (1982)

Even under socialism, which proclaimed the equality of all people, there were status differences. A young bricklayer, who has fallen in love with a college girl from a "better" family, feels this first-hand - the girl's petty bourgeois parents are fundamen ...

Christening (1981)

Deputy of cartography enterprise Mr. Ciruvka tries to seduce the colleague's assistant to destabilize his confident in a run for the director's chair. But things can go wrong. ...

Blob to the Fairytale (1981)

Little Vendulka receives a birthday gift of a seemingly innocuous children's book. Little she knows that the book is actually a portal into the surreal world of nursery rhymes and Josef Lada's paintings. ...

Mature Wine (1981)

A loose sequel to the 1976 comedy Stormy Wine. The screenwriters and the director recreate on screen a number of characters from the South Moravian town of Pálavice, characterised by their different attitudes and approaches to work and private life. A num ...

Night Riders (1981)

Two men of principle face each other. One is backed by a whole, however poor village, the other by the law. It is a conflict that reaches it's climax in the closing shoot-out. Instead of the Wild West, the gunshots go off on the Slovak-Polish border. Micha ...

Hodina života (1981)

It is 1883 and Josef Hibes, a social democrat, is organising a strike of textile workers. The main demand is a reduction in working hours... ...

Half a House Without a Groom (1981)

The Francs with their daughters Olina and Jirina are building a villa in the village of Rezkovice. Father Franc (Vladimír Mensík) doesn't allow himself a minute's respire and restlessly forces to work his wife, both daughters and Zdenek, Jirina's suitor. ...

Hra o královnu (1981)

A comedy about the love of the Czech nobleman Záviš of Falkenštejn for the Hungarian princess Kunhuta, who later married Přemysl Otakar II and became the Czech queen. ...

The Krakonos and the Skiers (1981)

Matej and Jenda, two of the eight children of the poor Pelc family in the Giant Mountains, help in a glass works where the oldest brother Francek works. They hide into a tub not to be seen by supervisors checking on the ban of children labor. They miss the ...

Co je doma to se počítá, pánové... (1980)

For the Novák and Bartáček families, money is king, and they'll do just about anything to get it. While René Novák pitches his parents a lucrative scheme to swindle as many people with the last name Novák in the country as possible, the Bartáček cl ...

Svítalo celou noc (1980)

The Czech film Svítalo All Night was made to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army and is dedicated to all those who fought and gave their lives in Prague in the May Uprising of 1945. Behind the historical ...

Drsná Planina (1980)

Chronicle of frontier division Czech police (SNB) in the years 1946 - 1949. ...

Poprask na silnici E 4 (1980)

Car transport of the locomotive is difficult, as the cargo is bulky. The three-man crew of the tractor therefore experiences many difficulties on the long journey across Bohemia... ...

Jak se naučit švédsky (1979)

The protagonist is supposed to go to a graduation reunion and, because she is ashamed to reveal that she is still lonely and unmarried, she makes up a story that her husband was a Swede who came to the Czech Republic for assembly and that he died suddenly. ...

Muž s orlem a slepicí (1978)

The young dude, who can't even make responsible decisions in life, doesn't get along with the group of experienced workers where he started working for a long time. He resents being ridiculed for his not-so-hilarious tattoo, which he passes off as an eagle ...

The Tailor from Ulm (1978)

The true story of the Bavarian Tailor Albrecht Berblinger who, after a strange encounter with a balloon starts building a flying machine. Although not an engineer by profession, he never gives up. No matter how many obstacles are put in his way nor how man ...

A Major Role for Rosmaryna (1978)

The director of films for kids called Bonzurka together with her loyal assistants Drahuska and Honza are looking for the actors for a new movie "The Knee". Children for this movie should not be afraid and shy and they must have talent for acting. Thus the ...

How to Wake a Princess (1978)

At long last, King Dalimil and Queen Eliška have produced an heir, Princess Růženka. Consumed with envy, Eliška's sister Melánie casts a curse: On the day Růženka turns seventeen, she will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep together with th ...

Pasiáns (1977)

Student Eva is dashing up a steep slope to try to catch a bus, but she twists her ankle and the bus doesn't wait. There won't be another bus until the next day, and so Eva returns to her parents' cottage where she has been studying by herself for several d ...

Šestapadesát neomluvených hodin (1977)

Two young, inexperienced students, dissatisfied with the demands of their teachers and the mentoring of their parents, try to cross illegally into the country - but because they are headed for friendly Poland, nothing happens to them. The story is set in t ...

30 Maidens and Pythagoras (1977)

A musical starring Jiří Menzel (whose part is sung by Achilles Michailidis) as a math and physics teacher employing innovative teaching methods. ...

A Nice Plate of Spinach (1977)

The heroes of this absurd comedy, full of confusion and humor are Dzharda Zemanek and Frantisek Liska. ...

Přikázaný směr jízdy (1977)

A young and shy bachelor wants to get his driver's license. His driving school teacher, however, is used to "noticing", takes bribes and only gives his pupils their licence for bottles. His pupil, depressed and depressed, becomes close to a colleague, lear ...

The Liberation of Prague (1977)

On 20th of April 1945 the Soviet army launches its attack on Berlin. The end has come for Nazi Germany and Hitler decides to commit suicide. In Prague K.H. Frank (Nazi Secretary of State and Chief of police in the Protectorate of Bohemia a Moravia) discuss ...

Boty plné vody (1976)

Three short stories ("Zelenáči 1945", "Silvestr 1948" and "Zimní vítr 1951") about members of the SNB units guarding the Šumava border in the post-war years. Ivo Toman had artistic supervision over the debutants. The theme of the third short story was ...

Odysseus and the Stars (1976)

A group of children are investigating a chain of mysterious events during the seventies. ...

The Bride with the Most Beautiful Eyes (1976)

Exotic, yet lyrically aimed fairy tale about a young gypsy Pista in search of a beautiful, gentle and faithful bride. An old man told him where to find a girl with those qualities, so Pista sets out on a journey to find the girl of his dreams without knowi ...

Wine Working (1976)

It is the summer of 1968 and also in South Moravian Pálavice appear political clashes. The so far peacefully farming Unified farmers' cooperative starts splitting. Some of the farmers have found the cooperative called Vidrupa and want to deal with wine in ...

Tam kde hnízdí čápi (1976)

Despite the initial mistrust of others, former glass worker Štěoán Urban becomes the founder and first chairman of the local agricultural cooperative. However, 1968 arrives and with it comes previously unexpected problems. ...

Pomerančový kluk (1976)

A quarrel between divorced waitress Mája and her fifteen-year-old son Petr ends with the boy physically attacking his mother, and he is sent to an institution for juvenile delinquents. ...

Na konci světa (1975)

In the 1950s, selected basic soldiers in a small border unit guard the western border with devotion, fighting intruders and uncovering their network of facilitators. It's a story of border guards that thankfully wasn't much of a political nudge, more of a ...

Dva muži hlásí příchod (1975)

An only son, Jirí Valenta (Jaromír Hanzlík), has been drafted to the army. At the barracks he acquires the nickname Seamstress because he sews rugs in his spare time. One day, his friend introduces him to Julka Vávrová (Jorga Kotrbová), a girl he is ...

Na startu je delfín (1975)

The teenage hero tries his best to meet the nomination limit for important races, but his coach's insensitive approach causes him to temporarily lose motivation and even give up on sports... ...

My Dear Aunt and Me (1975)

Two kind but foolish sisters live together in their villa in a small town in South Bohemia. Fany (Natasa Gollová) has never married and Andelka (Eva Svobodová) is a widow. In the morning, the two sisters go into town. They need to buy fuel oil, put money ...

Zbraně pro Prahu (1975)

In May 1945, Czech revolutionaries used several armoured trains in the fighting - partly captured, partly assembled from whatever the railway brought. One of them was commanded by the shunter Jan Chýň, who managed to bring weapons from the ammunition dep ...

How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (1975)

There are still water spirits among us. One group lives in Prague, led by Mr. Wassermann, who is using his wife's family as a servants. All they need is their old house near the river. But the house is to be demolished. They have to stop it. And the only w ...

Poslední ples na rožnovské plovárně (1975)

This story from the time of the occupation tells how the students of the teachers' institute decided to hold a traditional ball despite the ban. However, they had to cope with conditions more than threatening: the presence of Nazi thugs who intend to execu ...

V každém pokoji žena (1974)

The plethora of heroines living in the makeshift former Women's Homes share one feature - they mostly feel lonely. Some of them got used to this state and resigned, others still believe in a happier future... ...

Osud jménem Kamila (1974)

Tomáš, an unscrupulous Prague taxi driver who is involved in stealing antiques and smuggling them abroad, lives with his devoted mistress, but he is always thinking of his destined love, Kamila, who has emigrated to Switzerland. It is for her that he pla ...

Quails and King (1974)

Police find a girl with a bleeding face in a small town park at night. First the girl, a textile factory worker Jana, refuses to talk, and then she decides to tell the truth. After her father's death she, by herself, takes care of her younger brother calle ...

Taková letní noc (1974)

Maturita za školou (1973)

The short story film follows the fate of three young men who will soon have to decide what to do with their lives. The first "Poet", an aspiring author, publishes his first poem, while the sporting career of the second "Rep", a national table tennis player ...

Love (1973)

Sixteen-year-old students of a grammar school are supposed to write essays on "Love". The class best student Andrea (Jaroslava Schallerová) writes about a patriotic love to a country as she has no experience with a partner love. She has been living alone ...

The Secret of the Gold Buddha (1973)

A crime story set in the second half of the 19th century. Krasl, a Prague schoolteacher, is searching for a statue of the Golden Buddha, which is supposed to contain compromising materials on the factory owner Riessig. ...

The Girl on the Broomstick (1972)

A teenage witch, frozen in time as a punishment for 300 years, finds herself in a modern world. ...

Vychovatel (1972)

Straw Hat (1972)

Slacker Maurice Fadinar wasted his whole inheritance and the only way out of this situation, as it seems, to marry Helen Nonankur - daughter of a wealthy farmer. At the last meeting with his mistress in a nearby forest Fadinar's horse eats straw hat which ...

Ententýny (1971)

Lišáci – Myšáci a Šibeničák (1970)

Sliding, skiing, snow forts, snowball fights, in short, winter is the right season for the children from the village under the Šibeničák hill to have fun. Their leader has always been Zrzek, the son of the local undertaker. But then Myšák, whose fathe ...

The Thirteenth Chamber (1969)

Twelve-year old Kosta, a little boy of an overactive imagination, makes friends with equally sensitive eleven-year old Blanka. Fantasy leads the two children to the forgotten attic in the house of Blanka's parents. For them, this is the forbidden "thirteen ...

The Cremator (1969)

In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism. ...

On Zizka's Battle Waggon (1968)

Widowed yeoman Tuma and his household are on their way to help the town of Kourim, which is under attack by the papist troops. His son Ondra is secretly following his father. Miksík the castellan, who is responsible for Ondra, finds himself forced to set ...

Naše bláznivá rodina (1968)

Twelve-year-old Jana returns from the hospital. She notices some changes at home and is worried that her parents are going to divorce. In reality, however, they are expecting another child. ...

The Nun's Night (1967)

A dark fable set in an early 1950s Czech village, a time of Soviet-style socialism which saw the implementation of collectivized agriculture and the mass closure of monasteries and convents. ...

Happy End (1967)

A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations. ...

The Stolen Airship (1967)

Five young people take off in a lighter-than-air machine at the Prague Centennial Exhibition. A live-action/animated film based loosely on Jules Verne's novels Two Years' Vacation and The Mysterious Island. The film in Art Nouveau style consists of live-ac ...

Dva tygři (1966)

When a volunteer police helper is too proactive, he causes more confusion than good. The unfortunate man has no idea what the testimony of an unreliable witness can do... ...

Martin and Nine Fools (1966)

Captain Martin from the police's child department and his colleague Kraus are called to Znojmo to help solve a case regarding stolen toys found in the town's subterranean passages. The members of the local police department are convinced that the thieves a ...

Katya and the Crocodile (1966)

It is the summer holiday and little Mísa Horák has taken a few animals from the school's so-called "Corner of Living Nature" home to care for. But when he brings home two Angora rabbits, a starling, a little monkey, a tortoise and a small crocodile, his ...

Long Live the Republic (1965)

Oldrich is the runt of his village, beaten by his father, bullied by the other boys. But he has imagination on his side, and a wiry toughness they can't defeat. The village is in turmoil, because the Nazi occupiers have just retreated and the Red Army is a ...

Small Town (2003)

Produced by Czech television, Mestecko (Small Town) is the directorial debut of theatrical veteran Jan Kraus. This episodic comedy is set in the small town of Mestecko (which literally translates to "small town") right before the Velvet Revolution of 1989. ...

Eugene among Us (1990)

Young Eugene from the provinces travels to Prague in search of fame. Once there he gets an offer to write engagé lyrics for pop songs... ...